Hellertown Solved Half Of '84 Cases Police

March 11, 1985|The Morning Call

Hellertown police solved 50 percent of all crime cases reported during 1984, an increase of 2.5 percent in the rate of cases solved over 1983.

In his annual report, Hellertown Police Chief Alfred R. Shaw Jr. says borough police arrested 149 people who were charged with 221 crimes. Major crimes reported in 1984 were two armed robberies, six burglaries, 95 incidents of vandalism and 88 incidents of theft of removable property.

There were 40 arrests for driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages and 31 for drug violations. Police responded to 5,755 calls during 1984, an increase of 646 over 1983.

Police issued 665 traffic citations and investigated 98 of the 131 traffic accidents reported. Accidents were down from 169 the previous year. There were 20 hit-and-run accidents, down by 11 from last year.

Injuries from all types of traffic accidents decreased from 32 to 22. Shaw notes in his report that the reduction of traffic accidents has been a major goal of the department.

Police drove a total of 81,986 miles last year, an increase of 14,198 miles over 1983, because of council's mandate to have two officers on the road when feasible.

The report says that the department philosophy has been one of being "pro-active" in its approach to crime by stopping crime before it happens through crime prevention efforts.

"Because of political considerations some of the department's pro-active activities have to be stopped. This pro-active philosophy must continue if the department is going to grow in its services to the citizens of the borough," Shaw says in the report.

Other department activities include the Police as Classroom Teachers (PACT) program, in its second year, through which safety is taught to school children; fingerprinting children for parental identification; Crime Watch programs, which now involve 23 neighborhood groups; home security checks; property vacation checks, and a seminar for borough businesses on retail theft.